hear me out before you speak. The Caliph has been told
of your wondrous beauty, and as I see even less than the truth. Also he
has heard of the high spirit which you showed in the Coptic rising, when
your father, the Prince Magas, was slain, and of how you escaped out
of the hand of the Emir Musa the Fat, and were not afraid to dwell for
months alone in the tombs of the ancient dead. Now the Caliph, being
moved in his heart by your sad plight and all that he has heard
concerning you, commands me to make you an offer.

"The offer is that you should come to his Court, and there be instructed
for a while by his learned men in the truths of religion. Then, if it
pleases you to adopt Islam, he will take you as one of his wives, and
if it does not please you, will add you to his harem, since it is not
lawful for him to marry a woman who remains a Christian. In either case
he will make on you a settlement of property to the value of that which
belonged to your father, the Prince Magas. Reflect well before you
answer. Your choice lies between the memory of a blind man, whom I think
you will never see again, and the high place of one of the wives of the
greatest sovereign of the earth."

"Sir, before I answer I would put a question to you. Why do you say 'the
memory of a blind man'?"

"Because, Lady, a rumour has reached me which I desired to hold back
from you, but which now you force me to repeat. It is that this General
Olaf has in truth already passed the gate of death."

"Then, sir," she answered, with a little sob, "it behoves me to follow
him through that gate."

"That will happen when it pleases God. Meanwhile, what is your answer?"

"Sir, my answer is that I, a poor Christian prisoner, a victim of war
and fate, thank the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid for the honours and the
benefits he would shower on me, and with humility decline them."

"So be it, Lady. The Caliph is not a man who would wish to force your
inclination. Still, this being so, I am charged to say he bids you
remember that you were taken prisoner in war by the Emir Musa. He holds
that, subject to his own prior right, which he waives, you are the
property of the Emir Musa under a just interpretation of the law. Yet
he would be merciful as God is merciful, and therefore he gives you the
choice of three things. The first of these is that you adopt Islam with
a faithful heart and go free."

"That I refuse, as I have refused it before," said Heliodore.

"Th